Abortion Statistics for Michigan
- In 2022 abortions on Michigan women decreased from 28,409 to 27,359, however abortions increased from 30,074 to 30,120 due to 9% of abortions performed in Michigan are on women from other states.
- Michigan’s abortion rate declined from 15.1 in 2021 to 14.4 in 2022. That’s the number of women who had abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age in the state. So, about 1 in 70 Michigan women ages 15 to 44 had an abortion last year. The ratio of abortions to live births also declined, from 273 to 261. That means about 1 in 5 pregnancies end in abortion in Michigan.
- More abortion pills. Back in 2013, there were 5,103 abortions using abortion pills. In 2022, there were 15,606 pill abortions, just more than half of the total.
- Disparate impact. Black abortions declined slightly in 2022, but there remains a wide gap. Hispanic abortions also saw an unprecedented increase, from 796 to 1,122. Because abortion businesses focus so heavily on Black women—especially in Michigan versus other states—they are still 7 times more likely to have an abortion than White women. 62% of abortions on Black women are repeat abortions, meaning the woman has already had at least one abortion in her past.
- Aging demographics. The average age of women seeking abortions continues to rise. In 2013, teens had 3,106 abortions, women in their 20s had 15,243, and women 30 and older had 7,016. In 2022, those numbers were 2,167, 15,336, and 9,660 respectively. Two-thirds of abortions in Michigan are on women older than college-aged.
- For statistics on abortion in Michigan by county, click here.
- For further statistics on abortion in Michigan, click here.
Abortion Myths
- Abortion advocates often use a coat hanger to symbolize the “age of back-alley abortions” where women were forced to seek abortions from “unqualified butchers.” The number of women who died from illegal “back-alley” abortions was often said to be in the thousands. However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Vital Statistics, there were only 39 women who died from illegal abortions in 1972.
- To describe illegal abortion providers as unqualified is hardly accurate. Former medical director of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Mary Calderone, described in a 1960 American Journal of Health article that a study in 1958 showed that 84% to 87% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians in good standing. Dr. Calderone concluded that “90% of all illegal abortions are presently done by physicians.” So it seems that the “back-alley butchers” of January 21, 1973, became “caring doctors who believe in a woman’s right to choose” on January 22, 1973.
- In 1978, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology stated the legalization of abortion “has had no major impact on the number of women dying from abortion” since the results of a study they completed showed that over 90% of all illegal abortions were performed by licensed physicians.
- Abortion advocates will also claim that a million American women each year were undergoing illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control show that these statements are highly misleading. The CDC reports that after abortion was legalized in January of 1973, there were 615,831 legal abortions. In 1976 when there were 988,267 abortions. There weren’t over a million legal abortions a year in the United States until the end of 1977, five years after abortion was made legal in all states.
- Abortion was legal in a handful of states (New York, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, New Jersey, Vermont, and California) before Roe v. Wade and the CDC reports that there were 586,760 legal abortions in 1972.